I’m sorry, but on the evidence of recent efforts, India shouldn’t host big, international sporting events.

The 2011 cricket World Cup is only in its infancy, but already we are faced with underwhelming crowds, a situation that echoes last year’s Commonwealth Games. The television cameras try to focus on clusters of people to give the impression of packed stadia, but it’s futile, there are more empty seats than occupied ones.

What’s the point of hosting grand sporting tournaments if you can’t fill up the stands? Granted, India plays to a full house, but one of the joys of hosting an event like the World Cup is the chance to see other nations play on what should be the highest stage.

A match between Canada and Zimbabwe isn’t going to play out in front of a big audience, wherever it takes place, but a half empty stadium for South Africa against the West Indies? Give me a break.

West Indies cricket isn’t the force it once was, but a match like that still deserves a stadium full of spectators. Instead, on Thursday we got thousands of empty seats, a shocking indictment, particularly as this was the only major first round clash to take place in Delhi, the heart of the nation.

But it’s not the fault of the Indian fan, who remains as passionate as ever about cricket.

“I love cricket and I love the South African team. I traveled 600 kilometers by train just to watch this match,” Saif, a 19-year old student from Lucknow, told me at last night’s match, adding that he had bought his ticket online two months ago.

Surely there were thousands in Delhi willing and able to make the much shorter trek to the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium. Well, there were, but people wanting to buy tickets were told the event was sold out. It obviously wasn’t, as I saw, and for this the host administrators must take the blame.

James Fitzgerald, the International Cricket Council’s media and communications manager, confirmed that David Becker, the ICC’s head of legal, has written a letter on the ticket situation to the chairman of the World Cup Central Organizing Committee, Sharad Pawar.

Mr. Becker highlights two issues that have reached “critical status” and require “immediate intervention.” Firstly, he refers to troubles that official ticketing agency Kyazoonga is having distributing tickets because the company hasn’t received them from the country’s cricket associations. Secondly, he highlights problems with the supply of tickets to the tournament’s commercial partners.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India has reacted angrily to the letter, with Ratnakar Shetty, BCCI’s chief administrative officer, saying it was “totally uncalled for,” though he did apologize to fans that have missed out on tickets, according to a report in the Times of India.

There is enough demand from the public to fill World Cup grounds ten times over, but there will continue to be swathes of empty seats at every match. This is extremely frustrating and unfair on the fans, not least the thousands queuing up Thursday outside the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore desperate to get a ticket for India’s relocated match against England this weekend.

Only about 7,000 tickets for that match were available at the box office window for the stadium, which seats almost 40,000, and they sold out within three hours, according to Karnataka State Cricket Association secretary and former India fast bowler Javagal Srinath.

Going back to Thursday’s game in Delhi, which South Africa won with ease, by the way, how come the stadium is packed when an Indian Premier League match is on, yet two international sides boasting a host of IPL superstars (Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard, AB de Villiers, JP Duminy to name just a few) play out a World Cup clash in front of half empty stands?

Well, for one, the IPL is run as an efficient and ruthless business.

In addition to the ticketing problems, India hasn’t even managed to get all its stadia ready for the tournament, which led to the switching of the venue of the India vs. England match this Sunday from Kolkata to Bangalore.

It was the same before the Commonwealth Games in Delhi last year, when the city failed to get ready in time and India became a laughing stock in the eyes of much of the world. Tickets were also a problem then, and many events were watched by just a handful of spectators.

Yet after the Commonwealth Games there were still some people who said that India was ready and able to host other big events, not least the biggest two of all – the Olympics and the football World Cup.

But what would be the point of that if India can’t even fill up venues for cricket, the only sport the nation is certifiably mad about?

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